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is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
Romans by the Book Lesson
111
Our society is
enslaved to time and by this I mean to say many people believe and operate from
the principle that “time is money,” and they pursue this philosophy
heartily. But that is a lie. Time
is your life. Your life and mine is an
ever-evolving manifestation of the present.
Looking away from the deceiver’s world, where we’ve been brought up and
trained to function according to the calendar and the clock, and focusing instead
on what’s true, Believers should know this life is meant to be more than
pursuing money or prestige; life is about establishing and maintaining meaningful
relationships. (2 Corinthians 6:14-15;
Ephesians 5:23-33; Exodus 20:12)
God created man in
His image because He is a social God.
Our first indicator of this Truth is He is part of the Holy
Trinity. When you review Genesis
chapters 1-3, it becomes clear that the primary relationship Adam and the woman
were intended to enjoy was their relationship with the LORD God. This vertical relationship with God would
provide the foundation for the horizontal relationship they were to have with
each other and then with their offspring.
It’s difficult to
pin down the moment you joined the Rat Race; it just sort of happened.
You entered the
workforce, doing whatever, and suddenly you needed a reliable car, a home, and
the trappings that go along with living life.
But as you accumulated more stuff you
discovered you needed a larger home to store it in. The family grew, so you needed a bigger
vehicle to pack all your children and the rest of the soccer team in
comfortably. One day you discovered the
more money you earned the more money you spent and around and around she goes… but
there’s no getting off this spinning wheel.
So goes the Rat Race.
Why do they call it
the Rat Race there is no finish line?
Nobody is waiting at the end to give you the proverbial gold watch or a
medal. You’re not going to get a “pat”
on the back or a container of Gator-aid dumped over your head for your
efforts. The Rat Race continues
unabated, and the longer you’re caught in the cycle of “consumption” the more
“natural” it feels. You forget once upon
a time it wasn’t like this…
People are hurried;
their feeling the pressure of time. They race the clock from morning till night because
they have too much to do and too little time
in which to do it. One of the reasons
for this is the “Buffet Principle:” They have
put too much on their plate. In
their quest to meet all their commitments they forget that life isn’t just about
“clearing our calendar” from one day to the next and establishing “shallow
relationships” along the way. Life,
according to Scripture, can be summed up in this sentence: love
God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Life is about establishing and maintaining loving relationships and doing the will of our Father in heaven.
Please
open your Bible at Romans 13:11 where Paul writes to the Believers in Rome on the
subject of “knowing the time…”
Romans 13
11: Do this, knowing the time, that
it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation
is nearer to us than when we believed.
“Do
this” means what? Since Romans
12:1, our Apostle Paul has covered these topics:
We
must subordinate our lives to God, presenting our bodies as living sacrifices
to Him.
We
must subordinate our interests to the interests of others if we are to walk in
love.
We must subordinate our lives to those in authority over us as civil servants.
We must subordinate our lives to those in authority over us as civil servants.
Love
God, and love your neighbor as yourself; love
is the fulfillment of the Law.
So,
do this applies to all the above. Every Believer in Christ Jesus is to be
actively engaged in these Godly pursuits knowing
the time – we are to
understand the present time.
I
took a nap one afternoon and slept so soundly that when I awoke up I was
disoriented; losing track of the hour and the day. Was it morning, afternoon, or evening? It took awhile to regain my perspective.
This
is Paul’s message to us. Far too many Christians
are living in a spiritual stupor; they’re just marking time on this planet
without any real direction or purpose. They
are ignorant of the Church Age Doctrines or the instructions and commands from
the risen Lord Jesus Christ given to the Apostle Paul. Therefore, Paul is saying, “Wake up from you
spiritual coma, understand the
present time.
Recognizing
the Present Time
We
are living in a world that is
hostile to the things of God. We are
living in the destroyer’s (Satan’s) domain.
The world’s values contradict
with our heavenly Father’s principles and since we’re His children they should conflict
with ours. We need to understand
this is not our home; we’re citizens of heaven and God’s ambassadors while here
on earth.
Our
Lord sternly warned the Jews of His day for their ignorance of “the time,” their Messiah was among them, as
promised, and they knew Him not. Why
not? They did not search the Scriptures themselves or apply them in order to know the
time they were in (Luke
12:54-56). They could have known and
they should have known who Jesus was, it was written in the prophetic Word, and
He was fulfilling these prophecies one right after the other and right before
their eyes.
If
our Lord called the Jews “hypocrites” for applying their God-given discernment
to the signs of the weather, and neglecting to apply it to spiritual things,
and by so doing going blindly to judgment; what
does this say about those who choose to be spiritually sleeping today? They have
been given greater knowledge and Light, in view of Jesus Christ’s death,
and resurrection, the indwelt Holy Spirit; and the certainty of the Lord’s
coming – but the uncertainty as to the day and the hour!
If
they recognized the present Time, they
would realize the Dispensation of God’s Grace, a period of light and Truth, is
quickly coming to a close, like sand running out of an hourglass. And just as this period of God’s Grace is
running out so is the time of their
lives.
The
country music artist Tim McGraw put out an album titled “Live Like You Were Dying.” The song is about a man, in his early 40’s,
who was told he has a terminal illness.
The rest of the song is how that man lived the remainder of his life
with a “new” sense of urgency. He went
skydiving, mountain climbing, and he even rode a bull. Time
and not money became his most valuable asset.
He realized all the money in the world couldn’t purchase one more hour
of life for him… So he rearranged
everything in his life that he once thought was important and he spent time with the people he loved. The oft repeated phrase in Mr. McGraw’s song
is this one: “Someday I hope you get the chance to live “like you were dying.”
Each
Believer should be living with a new sense of urgency too. Our souls are eternal our bodies are not. One day we all have an unscheduled
appointment with Mr. Death. In addition,
Our Savior could return at any time…
Paul is saying anyone who understands this fact will change the way they
live their life. He uses the metaphor of
changing clothes. He said we need to
change from deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
The
Bible doesn’t tell us when our Lord is coming to gather His Church, but if you
knew the day and the hour would this prompt you to live differently for Jesus
Christ?
Would
you rearrange your priorities?
Would
you spend more time in prayer?
Would
you invest more of your time serving
others in need?
Would
you make it a priority to speak to unsaved family and friends about Jesus?
Would
you finally decide to forgive those who have wronged you in the past?
Would
you spend quality time with those
you love and tell them you love them?
I
don’t know why people have the impression they have all the time in the world. Just this week a Kentucky State Trooper
stopped to help an individual who appeared to be in distress and two hours
later he was dead. I’ve driven past many
a cemetery and I can say this without fear of causing a controversy; I am
certain every one of those folks lying there thought they had more time than they actually had. Truth is none of us own our next breath or
heartbeat God does. The trumpet of God
could sound today and the Lord could appear in the air for His saints, so it’s time to live with a sense of urgency; it’s time to live like you were dying.
Romans 13
12: The night
is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness
and put on the armor of light.
13: Let us behave
properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual
promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealously.
14: But put on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
As
long as the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, He was the Light of the world (John
9:5). Since He left, it has been
spiritual night. But He says: so
that you (Believers) will prove
yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you (insert your
name here) appear as (what) lights in the world, holding fast
the word of life… (Philippians 2:15-16a).
Light
and darkness are prominent themes in John’s gospel and in Paul’s letters and
for good reason. Light exposes what
darkness intends to conceal. (Ephesians
5:7-16)
Knowing
that life is temporary and that our Lord could return at any time should prompt
every Believer to change the way they live.
Therefore let us lay aside the
deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of Christians today
have no idea what Paul is talking about when he says put on the armor of light; because
they’re still in their P.J.’s. They’ve
declared their faith, whether that’s in Paul’s gospel or some other gospel is
unknown to this writer but it matters (Romans 2:16, 25), they believe they will
be going to heaven, but they are not dressed and ready to go.
Evidently,
they’re not aware of the “results” of salvation. Our Apostle Paul explains it this way: do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and that you (now watch this) are not your own? For you have
been bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This
is an all inclusive command from God. (1
Corinthians 10:31)
Our
time is not our own. Our hearts and minds are not our own. Our abilities and our skills are not our
own. These all belong to Jesus Christ
who paid a high price to redeem each one of us from the pit of hell. Still, we must decide how to use our lives,
our time, our relationships, our
abilities, and our skills to serve Him and others.
Christians
are to “walk” in unity and in community with their fellow saints (Ephesians
4:1-16). They are to walk in a way that
is dramatically different from the walk of an unbeliever (Ephesians
4:17:2). Christians are further
instructed to “walk in love” (Ephesians 5:1-6).
Then Paul instructs Christians to “walk as children of light” (Ephesians
5:7-14). The latter meaning, once you
become a true Believer in Christ Jesus a radical transformation takes
place. It is a change from death to life,
from darkness to light – how radical is that?
Therefore, this change should have a radical impact on our conduct. If our conversion is true, we will never be
the same again. We will never think, or
act the same again. Our thinking and our
behavior after our conversion should compare to our former “walk” as though it
were night and day.
When
I see Christians getting involved with the homosexual movement in America,
putting their trust in Planned Parenthood or the abortion industry, committing acts
of adultery, drunkenness, disputes, dissension, gossiping, immorality, and
sensuality, or supporting people who do these things, I have to tell you I don’t
think they’re getting it! (2 Corinthians
6:14)
First: Let us
behave properly as in the day – meaning we should live our lives as
if our mother’s were looking over our shoulder every minute. It’s called accountability. The stark reality of Scripture is that every
person, the saved and the unsaved is accountable to the Sovereign God (Romans
3:9-19). The Lord Jesus Christ
emphatically taught that a day of “judgment” is coming when every person will
have to give an “account” of his or her behavior (Matthew 12:36).
Second: we should dump all cancerous behavior –
meaning sinful activities that eat away at our souls like a cancer. These are things that erode our testimony and
our fellowship with our heavenly Father.
Paul gives us a short list: not in carousing and drunkenness, not in
sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealously.
The
first four sins Paul lists are indicators of a “free-wheeling” lifestyle and
are signs of an individual loving the
world and all that’s in it (1 John 2:15). Then Paul tells us to quit fighting and to
stop being jealous. These are indicators
that a person’s focus is on petty things and they are being distracted by them. These are unproductive endeavors. Satan intends to distract Believers from the
important matters of life – be aware.
Our
responsibility is to “get” focused on what is truly important and there isn’t
much time in which to do it. But put
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for (Satan
or) the flesh in regard to its lusts.
What
does it mean to put on the Lord Jesus
Christ?
It
means to engross yourself in Christ Jesus by working hard to know Him and His ways through Bible
study, prayer, and fellowship. It means do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The
Believer should be asking themselves continually, as they go about living their
daily lives, is this something my Savior would approve of? Would I ask Jesus to join me in this
activity? Above all it is putting on
Jesus’ love for others. If you “clothe”
yourself with Jesus Christ each and every morning you will be well-dressed and
prepared to face the day – no matter what may come. (Ephesians 6:1-18)
Paul
ends chapter 13 saying, make no
provision for (Satan or) the flesh
in regard to its lusts. Basically, he’s saying don’t waste your time by thinking about sinful things,
and ways to justify bad behavior; just do the right thing. All sin begins in the mind (James 1:15). Thinking leads to acting out, so when we
imagine long enough we wear down our resistance and eventually we’ll find
ourselves doing something that we really didn’t want to do to begin with
(Romans 7). Learn to say “no” to sin
every time. Don’t try to negotiate with
temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
“We must wake
up. The down-grade is a dangerous place
to be. We cannot afford to be indifferent. We cannot continue our mad pursuit of
pleasure and self-gratification. We are
all soldiers for Christ Jesus called to fight a spiritual battle, and we cannot
win by appeasing the enemy. A weak
church must be made strong, and a needy world must be confronted with the
message of salvation, and there may be little time left.” John MacArthur
Being
true Believers means getting up off the bench and into the game of life. It means no longer sitting on the sidelines
in your P.J.’s but deciding to put
on the Lord Jesus Christ and then becoming God’s fellow workers; (1 Corinthians 3:9).
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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